In deep water
by Cip
Summary: Shaun has been tracking the whereabouts of another Piece of Eden so that they will have leads on more than just the one.  However, he doesn't take into account the role accidents can play in the fate of the world.  Set during Brotherhood.  Oneshot.


**I don't own AC, obviously.**

**This is unbetaed because neither my normal beta reader, nor my backup have played AC and won't have a clue what's going on here. Therefore I apologise in advance for any mistakes you might find.**

**I don't know where the inspiration for this came from. Set during Brotherehood.**

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_Monteriggioni, present day._

"Altair's staring at me again!"

I roll my eyes at the comment. Life has certainly grown more interesting with Desmond in the team, but it's not what you'd call quiet with him around. To prove my point the idiot is currently holding a staring contest with the large statue of the Syrian assassin. Twit. I suppose it's only a mercy that he's stopped being racist to it, but he's still a long way off showing any form of respect for the man. And Lucy just smiles indulgently at him!

Just because he has, admittedly, super-cool ancestors does not mean that he himself is anything less than an idiot!

I turn back to my computer screen before the big ape decides that he wants to talk to me again. Not that this is any less frustrating. The screen is showing a map of the world with complex spider-web like threads running here, there and everywhere. Once I get my eye in it makes sense, but I hate being interrupted because I lose my train of thought. Currently I'm trying to focus on a particularly promising lead on a Piece of Eden shown on the Codex. It's sad to think that those pages of wisdom now lie in ashes in the room above us.

I've succeeded in following the trail of a Piece through Europe from about 1550 onwards, although I have no idea which piece it is. I doubt it's the one Ezio had, but there's no real way of telling. I think I've made a break through though.

I've tracked it from Italy through Spain and currently it's the early 1800's and it's entered Germany. Apparently the assassin family protecting it branched off and moved there, and following the usual way these things go I'm assuming that they then built a vault to hide it in.

And this is my life. Searching through nineteenth century German records trying to find evidence of any architectural records in stately houses that could be said vault. And yes, I'm well aware that it needn't be in a stately house, but the odds say that it is more likely – after all, one would need money to build such a thing and people with money generally lived in manor houses. Go figure.

I've also made the assumption that a vault was specially built to accommodate the Piece, but again it is more likely to be the case due to the traps and what-not likely to be guarding it. Of course, if and when I find it, we'll have to actually _find_ it and get through whatever is sealing it and retrieve the Piece. Lucky lucky us.

"That looks complicated." Desmond materialises beside me, staring at the screen. "How do you know what it all means?"

"I'm a bloody genius." I growl. To be fair, it's nice to be appreciated, and he's sounding suitably awed for me to be a little less harsh. "It's not as bad as it looks once you get your eye in and work out how to see the patterns." I zoom into Germany on the map so that it shows the current thread I've been working on. "It's a bit like one big detective game really."

"What are you detectoring at the moment then?"

I roll my eyes again – I do that a lot when he's around. "That isn't even a word." I'm bored though, may as well indulge him. "I've traced a Piece of Eden to nineteenth century Germany, now it's a matter of finding where they hid it."

"How do you do that?"

"By being insanely clever." And using Wikipedia, but I needn't tell him that. "I follow genealogies and immigration records of families that I'm interested in, and cross reference their positions with events that I believe are due to the Piece. I've tracked it to a family called Straus so far."

Desmond leans both elbows on my work-station, dangerously close to knocking over a stack of paper. How is this guy related to people as kick-ass as Altair and Ezio? " What do you think they did with it?"

"I don't _know_, that's what I'm trying to determine." My teeth are gritted, even he can tell that question was dumb. Much to my relief he drifts off to bug Rebecca, leaving me to my work.

Right, so where was I?

Carefully I navigate my way through to the last lead I have. Lazarus Straus.

Let's see now. It doesn't take too long, relatively speaking to find the census and track down the man's children. Okay then. It's reasonable to assume that the old man entrusted it to his eldest, Isidor, so I start with him.

Born in Germany then emigrated to America. Well, that makes life a little easier; American architectural records are pretty damn good for that period, I should be able to easily track what he did.

To my everlasting delight I find that Isidor did actually put his name to some major structural changes to a building in New York as he opened it as the department store, Macy's. This is looking promising. The records show that he spent far more money on the building than restructuring warrants, so we may have some decent evidence for a vault here. But what about the Piece of Eden?

I carefully follow through the old newspaper records about the opening of the store and anything mentioning the owner, but there's nothing here to suggest he had already moved the Piece to America. So, I have to assume that it was still sitting somewhere in Germany. Might still be there.

Ah, or not.

I am lucky in that I have at my disposal some pretty unique computer programs. Whilst we haven't had Desmond live out any other ancestors yet, I am still able to access brief snatches of memory due to the bleeding effect. It works both ways, something I don't think the girls really understand. Desmond gains his ancestor's skills and techniques and at the same time the data we gain from him is supplemented by whispers and echoes of his other ancestors. Isidor included.

He's got some rather fascinating family actually, but sadly I don't have time to peruse all of them. Instead I scroll through the lengthy list of documents and short video clips until I find the ones pertinent to my current investigation. I wonder if I should tell Desmond that I have all these…

Ah, there it is! I finally find the point in the list that I had last got up to. The clips so far have told me little about the Piece, other than that Isidor had decided that it was safer in Germany. However, the next few look to be more interesting. Pulling my headphones on I start the first video.

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"_How could this happen?" The man paced the lavish room, feet muffled by the fine rug. His English was heavily accented with German. "The code was meant to be unbreakable! It was meant to remain hidden forever!"_

_His wife, sitting in an elegant wing-backed chair, was frowning in concern. "I think our problem is less that they know where it is, and more that we now need to find somewhere more secure to keep it." She offered primly._

"_Whichever! We're going to need to move fast at any rate!" Isidor snapped. "The vault here is nearly complete as it is, we'll have to bring it over earlier than planned." _

_Another man, so far silent, finally looked up from where he had been gazing contemplatively into the fire. "Is there still no discernible way to destroy it?" He was almost the spitting image of his older brother Isidor – the same patrician profile and thinning hair._

"_We have already searched for a way, you know this Nathan!"_

"_Then should we not search harder?"_

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Well, short but sweet.

This doesn't tell me too much that I hadn't already guessed, but at least puts a time-line to events. From what I've now got, in late 1911 Templar agents figured out where the assassin family had hid the Piece. With time running out Isidor, his wife, Ida, and brother, Nathan returned to Germany to fetch it and safely stow it away in their American hide-away.

Pretty self-explanatory really. Doesn't tell me where it is now though.

I flick through a few documents that I've scrounged up over the past few days – boat tickets and trains and the like – before finding another video file from Desmond's sessions. The small information tag attached tells me that it has the same three people involved, a few months later in 1912.

Interesting though; their plans appeared to have changed somewhat.

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_Another room, another country. Rather than the art-deco finery of the New York penthouse, this place was _old_. Large assassin motifs were carved into walls that themselves appeared to be made from stones as old as time. It was an ancient sanctuary, built a few centuries after Altair's time and in a country not too far from the Syrian's own homeland._

_The ancient room had deep connections to Altair too – having been dug underneath the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Isidor and Nathan were both sat in a corner of the large vault, in deep discussion. The two high-class business men seemed out of place in their smart suits._

"_There is nothing here, as I predicted. This was a waste of time." Isidor sounded tired. "We shouldn't have risked bringing the Piece here." His hand nervously moved to hover over the cloth-covered bundle on his lap. It was impossible to tell what was under the thick linen. _

"_It was worth trying to find a way to destroy it for good. Father determined that Masyaf was a dead-end in that regard, but there was always a chance that something had been left here." Nathan still seemed to be the voice of reason, trying to destroy the artefact rather than just hiding it away again. "We can't risk it falling into Templar hands and the last time was too close. If we could but get rid of it for good-"_

_Isidor held up a hand with a weary sigh. "I agree with you, but there is nothing here. If Altair had found a way to destroy these things I can't imagine that he wouldn't have left his findings somewhere for this eventuality. If we haven't found it by now I can only assume he never found a way either."_

"_I don't want to believe that."_

"_Neither do I, but we have to accept that, at least for now, we need to focus on hiding it away. If you want to continue searching for a way to rid us of it for good, be my guest."_

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Hmmm.

I hadn't expected to see them in Jerusalem, but thinking about it, where better to look for documents Altair might have written? Poor guy, he's hardly rested in peace. Also interesting that Isidor's father had searched Masyaf for anything that could have helped destroy the Piece.

I hope they didn't succeed, since that will rather scupper our plans on saving the world and all that jazz.

So, recap:

Isidor, Ida and Nathan rescued the Piece from the family home in Germany – I'm assuming – and took it directly to Jerusalem to find a way to destroy it. And couldn't find one.

This is good news for us then. I'm rather desperately hoping that it's still out there somewhere – preferably still inside Isidor's hiding place in New York and untouched by Templar hands. And it's a crying shame that clip didn't show me which Piece it is. All I can conclusively say is that it isn't the staff or sword.

So. From the looks of things Nathan decided to stay put and keep searching for an answer whilst his brother and sister-in-law took the Piece back to some hidden stronghold in the Big Apple. Suits me. I've never been to New York and it's got to be a darn sight better than this dump! We might even be able to take in a show or go sightseeing.

Okay, so that's unlikely, but a man can dream, can't he?

I can feel that nervous tingle of anticipation as I search through to find last few videos. I'm near to finding it, I can feel it! For once I'll come out top! All Desmond does is lie in that machine and, essentially, watch his ancestors frolic about in 4D. This will be _real_! We'll finally be able to hold a Piece with our own hands!

Ah ha! And here's another clip! My hands are actually shaking! This could be the one.

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"_The pressure down there must be phenomenal." Isidor said quietly. He held his wife's hands tightly, neither looking at each other. "If anything can do it, that will."_

_Ida nodded tearfully. "I'm staying with you." She sounded firm, even though her voice shook._

"_No. There's room on the boats; I want to know that you'll be safe."_

_The woman forced a grim smile, shaking her white hair back over her shoulders. "I'm not leaving you, my dear. I knew what I was getting into when I married you; we're assassins, duty first."_

"_I don't want to see you die!"_

"_And I don't want to know that I left you. Where we go, we go together." _

_The husband and wife stared at each other, both desperate to make the other see their point of view. It was true that they had always known that their family led a dangerous double-life, but death in the line of duty was usually attributed to battle-wounds. Ida blinked back her tears in a business-like manner as the small room lurched at an ever steeper angle._

"_I'm not leaving you, and that is the end of it." She said firmly. "Now where are we going to put the damn thing?"_

_Isidor picked up the wooden box that was on the mattress beside him. It's intricately carved surface entirely obscured the contents. Leaning down to reach underneath the bed they were both sat on he pulled out – with some difficulty – the heavy suitcase stored there. There was a large and intricate locking mechanism on it that took a few moments to open. _

"_Are we sure about this?"_

"_It's the safest place on the planet. No-one has the means of getting to it after this." His wife replied. He knew the truth in her words._

_The box was seated snugly inside the suitcase and strapped into place before the lid was closed. There was a whirring click from inside the mechanism as the large item locked itself again. Isidor glanced up at the gilded clock on the mantelpiece that showed half-past one in the morning._

"_There will still be boats left –"_

"_No Isidor. Unless you get on one with me I refuse to go near them." Ida rose to her feet, only to stumble as the floor tilted at an ever more extreme angle. "Come, my love. Let's go up and sit on deck together and look at the stars one last time."_

_Her husband looked up at her, then smiled sadly. "That sounds good."_

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No.

I stare at the screen in complete horror as the rest of the memory plays out. It hadn't taken me long at all to realise where Isidor and Ida had played out their final moments, but despite knowing what will to happen I can't look away. The tortured sounds of buckling metal fill my headphones, mingled with screams and cries and the ever-present splashing of water. I know what happened. Most people alive know what happened. There are films, documentaries, books, plays, anything you can imagine really, made about what happened.

And yet I'm frozen by what I'm now watching because I know that this is real. I'm not seeing some film-makers version of what he thinks occurred. I'm viewing the real deal. The memories of someone actually there and played back like a video. These people dying aren't actors, those children won't be pulled out of the special-effects swimming pool afterwards and dried off. They're all dying.

I've seen death before. I've watched it in the Animus memories and I've participated in it when we've been tracked down by Templars, but I've never seen this much death. Over one thousand five hundred people I think, I can't remember the full amount. Drowned, crushed, frozen. Some were even killed by the pressure caused by air-pocket formations.

What a tragic waste of life.

The clip finishes and I pull my headphones away. I don't think that final image of Isidor will ever leave me. Sitting calmly in a deck-chair and holding Ida's hand as the deck beneath them tips to vertical.

"Hey Shaun, are you alright?"

I turn to see Desmond watching me in concern. "You've gone awfully pale." He continues.

"I've located a Piece of Eden." My voice sounds hollow, although I don't think the girls notice as they both turn to me in excitement.

"How certain are you?" Ah Lucy, practical as always.

"Completely one hundred percent certain." They're looking at me strangely now so I know I must still look as shocked as I feel. "I can accurately pinpoint the location to within twelve square feet."

"Well that's great, isn't it?" Rebecca looks jubilant, but her face falls as I shake my head.

"Those twelve square feet lie over three miles underwater in the Atlantic ocean."

I can see the realisation dawning as they put two and two together. Lucy groans and rests her head in her hands.

"Please tell me this is one of your deeply unfunny British jokes." She pleads. For once I wish I could oblige, but the video is still too clear in my head.

"I'm afraid not." I say. "The only Piece of Eden we have successfully tracked to modern times is currently in a suitcase, under a state-room bed in the wreck of the _RMS Titanic_."

Bloody iceberg.

And don't get me started on how much I now want to hunt down certain film makers.

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**Historical note: Isidor, Ida and Nathan were all real people. Isidor and his father opened Macy's in New York, and the trip to Jerusalem is also factual. Many people will know he and Ida from James Cameron's film **_**Titanic**_** as the old couple who died together. That was mostly correct; Ida refused to get on a lifeboat without her husband, and even when the crew said that there was space for him, Isidor wouldn't get in because there were still women and children on board. They were last seen sitting on deck together holding hands. Isidor's body was later recovered, but Ida's never was. **


End file.
